Nonwoven fabrics have been used in window shades in both home and commercial applications for many years. For example, nonwoven fabrics have been used in pleated and cellular-type shades, and in vertical blinds and Roman-type shades. Conventionally, nonwoven window shade fabrics are treated with a pleat retention finish that allows the nonwoven fabric to form and maintain sharp, crisp pleats that hold up during window shade use. The pleat retention finish is configured to supply stiffness between pleats and flexibility in the pleats themselves to allow proper opening and closing. In some applications, pleats are glued in such a way to form cells for cellular-type shades.
Because window shade fabrics often are printed with decorative patterns and the like, these fabrics conventionally are not treated for stain resistance because stain resistant finishes tend to make the fabrics highly repellant, which may cause problems with printing ink adhering to the fabric. Highly repellant fabrics may cause problems with gluing, as well. Glue may not adhere properly to a fabric with a stain-resistant finish and this may cause cells of a window shade to come apart during use.
Fabrics used in window shade construction are conventionally not treated for mildew and fungus growth. Unfortunately, window shades can be susceptible to mildew and fungus growth which not only hurts the overall appearance of a window shade, but also can adversely affect the physical properties of a window shade.